Guest conductor Darko Butorac returns to lead the Spokane Symphony, this time with more preparation and a powerful lineup
With this weekend’s third Masterworks performance of the season, guest conductor Darko Butorac will finally get a proper chance to lead the Spokane Symphony after an impromptu appearance last season.
Butorac and the symphony’s music director, James Lowe, first met in the 1990s as two conductors rising through the global ranks simultaneously. Even though Lowe primarily works with the symphony in Spokane and Butorac acts as the music director of the Asheville Symphony in North Carolina, they’ve stayed in touch over the years and remain good friends.
So, when Lowe came down with a sudden case of COVID just a day before a Spokane Symphony performance, he called up his old friend in hopes of finding a proper replacement. Butorac happened to be free, and there happened to be a flight available, so he made the cross-country journey and conducted the symphony with less than 24-hours notice.
The program went off without a hitch, and although he thoroughly enjoyed working with the “wonderful musicians” within the Spokane Symphony, it’s safe to say Butorac is much more comfortable this time around.
“As a guest conductor, knowing the program is a lot less stressful than the first time,” Butorac said with a laugh. “I’m very excited, it’s a fun program and one very close to my heart, personally.”
The Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon performances at the Fox Theater will be closed out with Sergei Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Written toward the end of the Second World War, Prokofiev paints a glorious picture of triumph, resilience, and the sheer beauty of the indomitable human spirit in a time when the world needed a light at the end of the tunnel.
The piece continues to inspire and is, for good reason, one of Butorac’s favorites.
“It’s a piece that’s based in conflict, and I think if you put yourself in position of listening to it from that perspective, it’s one which really celebrates the human spirit and the desire for good in life,” Butorac said. “It’s such a positive and uplifting work … I’m really glad to bring it to Spokane.”
Butorac and the symphony will also be exploring Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 with another guest, a young prodigy in violinist Karisa Chiu. The two have worked with each other, along with Mozart, in the past, and Butorac is excited to be doing so again.
The piece is chocked full of Mozart’s trademark sense of wit and humor, which Chiu is highly capable of not only displaying but expanding upon herself.
“She has a unique voice with the composer; I think it’s full of character and humor, which is what this piece really shines in,” Butorac said. “I’m very happy to work with her again.”
The first piece of the evening, “Gratitude,” differs in the fact that it is from an active composer, Aleksandra Vrebalov, who is also originally from Serbia, like Butorac. The piece is more meditative with light touches.
“She is making great strides internationally,” Butorac said of Vrebalov. “It felt like a good opportunity to share something from my neck of the woods with the audience.”